Sorting-cabinet.



A. F. WALZ.

SORTING CABINET.

APPLICATION mep JULY 2o, |914.

Patented J une 22, 1915.

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AUGUST F. WALZ, OIE' ST. LQUIS, MISSGllTllfv SORTING-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 22, 1915.

.Application filed. July 20, 1914. Serial No. 851,344.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, AUGUST F. WALZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful improvement in Sorting- Cabinets, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates'to iling and sorting cabinets, and is designed particularly with reference to use in railway mail service, or similar service.

The characteristic features of my invention consist in the provision of a form of cabinet which provides a number of series of sorting compartments or pigeonl holes, and possessed of features which render the pigeon holes adjustable as to size so that they may be altered to accommodate papers or mail matter of different widths and different lengths.

in railway mail service, it will be understood, the mail is sorted on the cars, so that pieces of mail destined for the same place may be made up into bundles for delivery at the designated station. While the ordinary run of rst class mail matter is of approximately uniform Width, it frequently occurs that large shipments of pieces of width greater than the ordinary width are sent out, as in the case of circulars or similar matter which are sent out by large mail order houses or other dealers. Under present practice it is necessary to have separate cabinets of dierent Widths, which of course take up a great deal of space in the mail cars and impose upon the clerk the eXtra labor of making double assortments for the same destination.

lt is the purpose of my invention to provide a sorting cabinet which is adjustable so as to accommodate eXtra width pieces, so that when large shipments thereof are handled they may be sorted into the same cabinet with pieces of ordinary size. In the same connection, it is the further purpose of my invention to provide a cabinet which will facilitate the sorting and packaging of mail and obviate the necessity of having sorting cabinets of dierent sizes on the cars.

rl`he further purpose of my invention is to provide a very strong and easily adjustable cabinet which may be readily tted to the cars and easily removed therefrom.

@ther and further objects will be obvious and hereinafter pointed out.

ln the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a small section of my improved cabinet. Fig. 2. is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken approximately on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, but with certain parts broken away.

By reference to the drawings in detail, it will be understood that my improved cabinet is made up of a plurality of carriers 1, which preferably are formed of sheet metal, and have vertical back portions and forwardly directed supporting portions 2. The

edges of the carriers are bent over to form slot ways in which are slidably mounted the pivot seats l. Shelf members 5, also formed of sheet metal, have laterally directed shelves 6 and vertical partition portions 7. The upper and lower portions of the shelf members are shaped to form slide ways 8 in which lit the forwardly projecting supporting portions 2, thereby slidably supporting the shelf members on the carriers.

rlhe carriers are provided with brackets 9 on their back portions, which are adapted to embrace suitable rods or strips which are fixed to the car or other permanent support, said engagement of the brackets with said strips providing a mounting for the carriers which renders them individually slidable longitudinally on the supporting strips. lThe supporting members are operatively connected by a lazy tong arrangement made up of the strips 10 which are pivoted on the carriers 1 by the pivots 11, fulcrumed togetherby the pivots 12 and pivoted to the pivot carriers l by the pivots 14. It is intended that one of the end carriers, such as the left hand one shown in Figs. 1 and 3, shall be fixed against movement to the supporting strips 13, and the other end carrier, such as the right hand one shown in Figs. 1 and '3, is provided with suitable catches 15 adapted to engage the strips 13 to secure the carriers in adjusted positions.

As illustrated in Fig. l, the' cabinet is shown in its extreme compressed position in which the pigeon holes formed by the shelf members 6 and the partition portions 7 have their minimum width. ln moving the carriers to this position, it will be understood that the pivot seats 4 move outwardly in their slots as the carriers are forced together, the lazy tong connections causing the carriers to approach each other in the same ratio so that the intervals between all of the carriers are the same. The cabinet isexpanded so as to Widen the pigeonV holes by disconnecting the catches 15 and moving the end carrier out longitudinallv on the strips 13. This movement of the end carrier, by virtue of the lazy tong connections, causes all of the carriers to move apartv from one another in equal ratio. rllhe carriers may thus be spaced apart to the proper distance to accommodate the mail matter to be handled, and may be fixed in the proper adjusted position by means of the catches 15.

ln order to provide an adjustment Wherebv the cabinet may be enlarged to accommodate eXtra long pieces of mail, the shelf member 5 is m vable outwardly on the supporting members 2 whereby it is spaced apart from the back of the carriers, providing pigeon holes of greater depth. The

shelf members 5 are secured in the proper adjusted positions relative to the carriers 1 by means of suitable catches 16 at top and bottom.

lt is obvious of course that the shelf G may be horizontal, or may be' sloped rearwardly as shoivn in Fig. 2, to vprevent pieces of mail jarring out of the .pigeon holes due to vibration of the car; or, Where the cabinet is installed in a building, which of course is not subject to vibration as is the car, the shelves 6 may be sloped forwardly so as to facilitate the sorting of the mail. lt Will be noted that in the various expanded positions of the cabinet, an interval of space is left between the lateral extremities of the shelves 6. rihis space is of utility in that it provides an aj erture in Which the finger may be inserted to grasp the packet of mail vvhenthe pigeon hole is full.

A mounting for indicator slips is illustrated in Fig. 1 and shown attached to the middle shelf member. This indicator mounting includes the shaft 17 revolubly mounted in the partition member 7 of the shelf member and actuated by means of aV crank or other proper means 18. In the open ends of the shelves 6 indicator holders 19 are mounted on the shaft 17 by means of aV pivot 20. Both sides of the indicator holders 19 are adapted for the reception of indicator slipsV which Vare arranged in the order of the stations Where the mail is to be delivered. llfherefore7 when the car is going in one direction on the line, the indicator slips should be arranged in an order inverse to that in Which they are arranged when the car is going in the other direction. Consequently, the indicator slips on one side of the'holders 19 Will be arranged in one order, and the slips on the other side in the inverse order. When the car reaches ythe end of the run and starts back, the indicator slips arranged in the proper order are made to shoiv by simply rotating the shaft 17 so as to bring What had been the back sido of the indicator holders into vieu'. lt ivill be noted that those indicator holders are carried vv'ith he shelf member 5 in all adjustments thereof.

lllhile this device is intended particularly for railway mail service. it is obvious that it may be adapted to other uses and when made in a small size provides a very convenient practice case for the use of railway mail clerks in studying` their routings.

From the foregoing it .vill be obvious that my invention provides a very substantial sorting case which may be very quielrlv and very easily adjusted to provide uniform pigeon holes of various selected sizes. proper securing means being provided for holding the cabinet in its adjusted positions. This cabinet is particularly adapted to be fitted to railway cars, as it may he made in sections of any desired size which may he easily mounted in the cars in any variety of a rrangements.

l am avviare that various changes and modifications may be made in the device illustrated and described. and it is therefore not my intention that my invention be limited to the specific form shown. but that it be construed to comprehend all forms and modifications Within its spirit and scope.

I claim:

1. A cabinet comprising a series of relatively movable carriers, shelf members mounted on said carriers and having portions adapted to coperate with the shelf members on adjacent carriers to form pigeon holes, said carriers being coperatively connected by means whereby movement of one of said carriers relative to an adjacent carrier produces an equal movement of each other carrier relative to its adjacent carriers.

2. A cabinet of the class described comprising in combination a plurality of relatively movable carriers having shelf portions and partition portions, the shelf portions and partition portions on different carriers being adapted to form pigeon holes, and means for moving the carriers to vary the Width of the pigeon holes.

3. A sorting cabinet of the class described comprising in combination a plurality of relatively movable carriers having shelf portions and partition portions, the said shelf portions and partition portions on different carriers coperating to form pigeon holes, and the said shelf portions and partition portions being movable on the respective carriers to vary the depth of the pigeon holes.

4. A sorting cabinet of the class described comprising in combination a plurality of carriers, partition portions and shelf por- Cil tions mounted on the respective carriers and adapted to cooperate with similar portions on adjacent carriers to form pigeon holes, and means for moving the partition portions and shelf portions on the individual carriers to varythe size of the pigeon holes.

5. ln a device of the class described, the combination With a plurality of relatively movable carriers having side and bottom .portions adapted to coperate to form pigeon holes, means for moving the carriers to vary the Width of the pigeon holes, and means for securing the carriers in various relative positions.

6. ln a device of the class described, the combination of a plurality of relatively movable carriers having shelf-like portions adapted to coperate with one another to form the bottoms of pigeon holes, and means operatively connecting said carriers Whereby movement of one of said carriers produces relative adjustment of all the carriers whereby to vary the Width of the pigeon holes.

7. A device of the class described comprising the combination of a plurality of relatively movable carriers having partition portions andshelf portions adapted to coper ate with one another to form pigeon holes, and mechanism coperating with said carriers for adjusting all of said carriers simultaneously to vary the size of the pigeon holes.

8. A device of the class described comprising the combination of longitudinally disposed supporting strips, relatively adjustable carriers movably mounted thereon, said carriers being shaped to form pigeon holes, means coperating with said carriers for moving them on said supporting strips into dilerent adjusted positions, and means cooperating With said carriers for securing them in adjusted position.

In testimony whereof l hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses, this 17th day of July, 1914.

., AUGUST F. WALZ.

Witnesses:

LAURA MEYER, M. A. HANDEL.

4' Uopies of this patent may be obtained for v cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, D. C. 

